The Bengals met with a QB before the NFL Draft

AtoZ Sports

John Sheeran discusses Montana State QB Tommy Mellott and details why the Cincinnati Bengals used a top 30 visit to meet with him.

Transcript

00:00The Bengals squeezed in a pre-draft visit for a prolific college quarterback,

00:03but he's not just any kind of quarterback. And in this video,

00:06I'll explain what the plan could be for him if he joins the Bengals.

00:12Hi again, Bengals fans. John Sheeran of A to Z Sports Cincinnati here. And by the time you're

00:16watching this, the Bengals will have likely hosted their final 30 visit leading up to the 2025 NFL

00:22draft. Now, we have been keeping track of all of the reported pre-draft visits the Bengals have

00:26hosted over the past several weeks. Not all of them will be reported. We'll find out more about

00:30them after the draft happened. Maybe they'll draft someone that isn't on that list, but then we'll

00:34learn that they actually did take a 30 visit with the team. And for the most part, the players that

00:38have come into town play positions that the Bengals aren't detargeting. You have a lot of offensive

00:43linemen, a lot of defensive tackles, a handful of interior offensive linemen, a couple linebackers

00:47here and there. And there are a lot of positions the Bengals could end up drafting with one of their

00:51six picks this year, but quarterback is probably not going to be one of them. In all honesty,

00:55I think the Bengals too deep quarterback room of Joe Burrow and Jake Browning is the envy of most

00:59of the NFL. And there really is no need for a third quarterback to enter that group. But the Bengals

01:03did use one of their 30 visits on a college quarterback. It just happens to be a quarterback

01:07who's probably not going to be a quarterback in the NFL. And of course, I'm referring to Montana

01:12State's own Tommy Mellett. Oh wait, you don't know who Tommy Mellett is. That's quite all right.

01:17I didn't know either. Tommy Mellett has played quarterback for Montana State for the last four years,

01:21and he's thrown the ball 686 times. He has rushed the ball 487 times. Why? Because he could. In four

01:29years playing against FCS competition, he ran for 43 touchdowns and over 3,600 rushing yards. When he

01:36kept the ball in his hands, good things typically happen. And that is the biggest reason why any NFL

01:41team would consider having him on the roster. Because it's tough enough for FCS level quarterbacks

01:46to make an impact in the NFL. It's even tougher when you're barely six foot and barely over 200

01:52pounds. If you haven't guessed it by now, the NFL is considering Tommy Mellett to play wide receiver.

01:57According to NFL media's Tom Pellicero, who originally reported the Bengals meeting with

02:01Mellett, Mellett actually worked out as a wide receiver and a pump returner at his own pro day.

02:06And guys, I would be shocked if the Bengals didn't view Mellett in the same way. Is it cool that he can

02:10play quarterback and throw? Yeah, for sure. But again, that's not going to be where he makes any sort of

02:15lasting impact on an NFL team. But the guy ran a 40 yard dash in under 4.4 seconds. And he's clearly

02:21really adept with the ball in his hands. There's something to work with there. And if you're

02:24talking about the Bengals bringing him in as an undrafted free agent, seeing what he can do

02:28in rookie mini camp, OTAs and training camp, I think that's awesome. Mellett became the first

02:33Montana State player in program history to win the Walter Payton FCS Player of the Year award. And for

02:38him to go from that to trying to make an NFL team as a rookie at an entirely new position would be a

02:43phenomenal story to watch unfold. And the Bengals meeting with him before the draft just goes to

02:47show that not all these 30 visits are spent on players that they intend on using actual draft

02:51picks on. In fact, a lot of them are actually spent on players that they would like to target

02:55after the draft as priority free agents. Because college free agency is still free agency. A lot

03:00of these guys are going to have multiple offers from teams after the draft ends. So by meeting with

03:04them ahead of time, you give them a chance to get to know the team, get to know the city a little bit

03:08so that when the draft actually ends, you're on the phone saying, hey, remember when we met with you a couple

03:12weeks ago, would you like to join the Bengals? And all that happens very quickly within the span

03:16of a handful of hours after the draft actually ends. And of course, Saturday is like the busiest

03:20day of the draft is four rounds of it. And the Bengals won't be the only team interested in Tommy

03:24Mellett. So it's a good thing that they got a chance to get to know him ahead of time and then

03:28see what happens. So yes, the Bengals did me with a quarterback ahead of this year's NFL draft.

03:33But is he just a quarterback? Absolutely not. And that is all the more reason why you should get to know

03:37the Bengals.

03:42So

03:44you

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